By Keri O’Shea and Ben Bussey Given how Blumhouse Productions have come to more or less completely dominate theatrically released horror these last few years, and how frequently their output leans toward ghost stories and/or found footage, at a glance it’s easy to assume their latest release Unfriended might not offer anything new. However, your intrepid […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi Hideo Nakata’s most recent films have not had the glowing reception his reputation following Ringu and Dark Water might have set him up for. I quite like 2013’s The Complex, myself, which, although a bit cliched was certainly enjoyable and featured some effective chills. Monsterz seems to have failed to impress critics […]
By Keri O’Shea Explorations of unhinged femininity have long been archetypal in horror and exploitation cinema. It’s that whole ‘hall of mirrors’ effect: anxieties and fears regarding women make for overblown, engrossing movies, and the depiction of all facets of female behaviour and concerns – to include adolescence, relationships, sexuality, pregnancy, motherhood – have been […]
By Keri O’Shea The influence of the zombie – formerly, the ghoul – continues to rise and rise; we now see zombies in the upper eschelons of pop culture, in such various places as a vastly-popular TV franchise and even…in a teen romance film. Yep, the risen dead are clearly here to stay. But what […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi I have been excited about The Dead Lands since I first heard about it last year – a period martial arts film conducted entirely in a minority language? That ticks a lot of my boxes, that does. Hongi (James Rolleston) is something of the runt of the litter to his tribe. His […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi I’d seen the UK DVD release of Greatful Dead advertised quite a bit on the Third Window Films Facebook page, before seeing it in the line-up at BIFFF. It was a title I’d almost immediately added to my DVD wishlist, so the opportunity to see it on a big screen was extremely […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi Hollow is a film I’ve been trying to see since last year, my desire to see it cemented by the fact that it features the rapper Suboi in a small role (niche, right?). Anyway, I was, naturally, particularly pleased to see it in the BIFFF line-up and I’m even more pleased to […]
Most of the time when a DVD/Blu-ray reissue of something from years back comes our way, it’ll be some old, most likely half-remembered or oftentimes previously unseen horror/cult movie of the 70s or 80s. It’s comparatively rare that we get to revisit a similarly half-remembered TV series – and even less common for said series […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi I’ve been anticipating German Angst for a while now, ever since seeing the project announced on Michal Kosakowski’s Facebook page. Kosakowski directed the fascinating documentary Zero Killed, and here has worked alongside Andreas Marschall (director of the giallo homage Masks) and Jorg Buttgereit (director of the recently re-released Nekromantik) on this very […]
By Nia Edwards-Behi Later this year Takashi Miike returns with Yakuza Apocalypse, pitting the titular gangsters against vampires. I don’t wish to suggest that Miike’s been somewhat pipped to the post, but Hiroshi Shinagawa’s Deadman Inferno also pits the fearsome Yakuza against the undead – only in this film it’s zombies causing mayhem. As we’ve […]
By Svetlana Fedotov They say in space, no one can hear you scream and you can scream as loud as you want, seriously, no one will hear you. Especially in space. I like to imagine that this was the thought that was going through the minds of the crew of the good ship Kanga as […]